Opinion
Divided Over Africa's Future as AU Turns 50

WASHINGTON, DC — There is a saying: “with age comes
wisdom.” As the African Union (AU) celebrates turning 50 years old on
Saturday at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, many are asking
whether the institution is any smarter and more effective as it faces
mounting security and developmental challenges across the
continent.

Africa Day

On May 25th 1963, the Organization of
African Unity (OAU)—the precursor to today’s African Union—was born. Since
then May 25th has been a special day on the African calendar.

Founded
by visionary leaders like Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, the Organization of African
Unity started with 32 signatory countries. Today the African Union has 54
member countries. The OAU's main aims were to promote unity and solidarity
among member states and, most importantly, fight colonialism in all its
forms on the continent. For most that fight was won in 1994 with the end of
apartheid in South Africa. The OAU drifted for a few years after that, but
leaders like Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi sought to reinvigorate the
institution.

By 2002 there was enough support to disband the OAU and
reform it as the African Union under its then-chairperson, South African
President Thabo Mbeki. With the new name came a reprioritization of the
institution’s goals, including promoting stability, security, good
governance, and economic cohesion and cooperation. But has the AU been as
successful in addressing these issues as the OAU had been in fighting
colonialism and minority rule?

Vision 2063

Some analysts
say significant progress has been made by the AU on the security and
governance fronts, but most agree that major challenges still remain,
particularly in the fight against poverty and economic inequality.

In
response to the persistence of these problems, in January this year the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African
Commission, and the African Development Bank began developing a new
blueprint for Africa called “Vision 2063,” a blueprint modeled largely on
the economic boom that transformed much of East Asia over the decades
following World War II. UNECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes says if East
Asia can so dramatically improve the lives of its people over a few decades,
so can Africa.

“I want an Africa that is going to be among the
stars,” he says. “I do not think it is a dream to think that, because if
you look into the age of the world population in most developed countries of
today and they will not be able even to survive without the energy, the
force that is going to come from the younger continent and the continent
that will be really the last frontier for development. There's no reason
why Southeast Asia in 30 years turned around completely their fortunes and
that Africa cannot do the same.”

Mr. Lopes says to implement any plan,
especially one as ambitious as Vision 2063, the continent needs good
governance, but he cautions that sound leadership alone will not bring
progress.

“Make no mistake,” he says, “it's not only about elections.
It's much more sophisticated than that. It's actually about having planning
capacity. It's about having a vision, a development approach that takes
into account the need for quality information, managerial capacity, and so
on and so on.”

Lopes is optimistic about Africa’s future, saying
Africans’ self-confidence is on the rise. Plus, he says, other countries
are coming to realize that Africa has much more potential than many
realized. Most importantly, he says, demographic and other changes over the
coming 50 years will boost Africa’s competitiveness globally.

“I see
an Africa in 50 years that is completely different from what we have today.
It's much more urbanized, much more younger with megalopolies that need to
be managed properly with the largest workforce in the world.”

While Lopes
might be optimistic about what the AU can deliver to the continent over the
next half century, there are plenty of skeptics. Among those who are
critical of the AU’s track record is Moeletsi Mbeki—author, economist, and
brother of former South African president Thabo Mbeki.

One reason,
Moeletsi Mbeki says, that the AU has largely failed to deliver the continent
from poverty, disease and conflict is that most of its goals and ambitions
were modeled on the European Union. “The AU has set itself a bigger
ambition,” according to Mbeki, “but a lot of its ambitions in my view were
copied from the European Union, so like all copies, it has not been easy to
achieve since they did not create their own objectives.”

Mbeki says the
current crop of African leaders has failed, and blasts programs touted by
the AU and its partners as “wish lists,” not programs that can be
realistically implemented. “The AU has lots of programs like NEPAD and all
the rest of it,” he said, “but personally I haven't seen much action in
terms of results. At least for the first 50 years I can say I saw the action
which was supplying arms to liberation movements, providing bases for them,
providing training facilities for them and helping defeat
colonialism.”

Vision 2063

How do Zimbabweans see the AU
legacy and future? Takura Zhangazha is a young Zimbabwean pan-Africanist.
He applauds the OAU’s founding fathers for liberating the continent from
colonial rule, but says the current leadership is failing.

“The OAU
and the AU are historic organizations, particularly important to the
development of Africa,” Zhangazha said. “Agreed there have been mistakes
and flaws. Agreed there were challenges over and about anti-colonialism and
liberation, but the work has been done. It can only be improved on and it’s
upon Africans and African leaders to ensure that the values, principles and
objectives of the OAU originally and the AU now are met democratically in a
people-centered fashion. But when you look at the contemporary leadership,
what they have failed to understand is the need to remain principled and
focused on people-centered policies to guard against the easy co-optation
into aggrandizement and leadership by proxy.”

Perhaps not surprisingly,
those in leadership are less dismissive. Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara says the AU needs serious reforms if it is to realize the dreams
of the OAU’s founding fathers, adding that regional integration within
Africa should be the immediate focus for African leaders.

“Africa has got
so much potential but we are wallowing in poverty, we are suffering from
under-development,” Mutambara said. “We need to identify the strategic
bottlenecks we have in Africa so we can deliver Africa’s promise,
emphasizing matters of regional integration, emphasizing matters of
beneficiation, matters of good governance and the need to be masters of our
own destiny. We cannot continue to depend on foreign aid. Why don't we
mobilize our resources—our oil, our diamonds, our manufacturing? The motive
is what do we have to do to deliver Africa's promise?”

Mr. Mutambara
said regional economic alliances can be especially beneficial. “We are
saying let us collectivize our natural resources. Let's have a diamond
cluster involving, for example, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana and Namibia, that
will be a massive cluster which can then drive beneficiation and value
addition in the diamonds. And we can do the same for platinum with Zimbabwe
and South Africa. That would dominate the world because 90 percent of
platinum in the world is in these two countries.” Mutambara suggested
oil-producing countries in Africa could do the
same.

Doubts

Despite all the hope and potential in Africa, at
least one outside observer harbors doubts. Professor Stephen Chan with the
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London says African unity,
in particular, is a distant prospect.

“I don't think, not in our
lifetime anyway, that there's going to be African unity,” according to Mr.
Chan. “There are 54 different countries in Africa and they all have their
own agendas. There's not even going to be in the near future what we have
got in Europe because there's just not enough to integrate. That can only
happen at a much, much later stage of development and even the EU has taken
decades to bring its current 27 members, so bringing together 54 is not
going to work overnight.”

Mr. Chan says he doubts whether Africa’s
elderly leadership has the energy and dynamism to bring positive change to
the continent. He also questions how realistic it is to model African
development on what transpired in Asia in the late 20th century, and says
the West is not helping Africa to industrialize, which was key to Asia’s
transformation.

“There's a whole lot of different set of impulses on the
Asian side of the world that has made rapid progress possible,” Chan said.
“Also, the West very deliberately tries to prevent Africa from getting too
industrialized. They have actually set a limit to modernity. When you look
at the Millennium Development Goals, for instance, there's actually nothing
there about helping industrialize Africa. Now as long as Africa is just a
producer of raw, unprocessed, unindustrialized materials, as long as Africa
can't add its own manufacturing to its own products, it's never going to be
like Asia.”

ZLHR
challenges govt to advance AU common values

AS Zimbabwe joins the rest of Africa on 25 May 2013 in celebrating
Africa Day, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) calls for reflection by
the Inclusive Government (IG) on its collective responsibility to further
the objectives of the African Union (AU).

The founding fathers of
the continent were motivated by the values of unity, promotion of common
values of peace, security, stability and prosperity for Africans to create
the Organisation of African Unity now known as the African Union 50 years
ago. As we celebrate Africa Day, these values must be
reaffirmed.

However, ZLHR regrettably notes failure by the IG to
uphold these common values. Good governance principles remain alien to most
Zimbabweans who have to grapple with state sponsored repression which
continues to erode people’s freedoms and deepening poverty on a daily basis.
Tangible measures still have to be taken to promote and protect human rights
including those of vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens and groups such as
women, children and those living with disabilities.

With the
inevitable occurrence of elections in Zimbabwe later this year and their
link to, and impact on regional and continental peace, security and economic
development, ZLHR notes with sadness the continued failure by the IG to
adopt and implement concrete measures to promote democratic principles and
institutions, popular participation and good governance in accordance with
the minimum standards set within the AU framework.

It is worrying that
the IG continues to procrastinate in implementing recommendations of the AU
organs such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights which
recently delivered a landmark ruling directing the Harare administration to
allow its citizens in the diaspora to vote in the March constitutional
referendum and forthcoming national elections.

There also continues to be
a deafening silence and no significant progress towards accepting through
ratification and domestication of one of the key instruments that will
advance democracy, peace and security in Zimbabwe, the region, and the
continent as a whole, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good
Governance (The African Charter on Democracy) that came into force on 15
February 2012.

The African Charter on Democracy seeks to promote
adherence by African states to the universal values and principles of
democracy and respect for human rights premised upon the supremacy of the
constitution and the respect for the rule of law. The African Charter on
Democracy seeks to usher in a new era on our continent that establishes a
link between free and fair elections, good governance and the enjoyment of
human rights by the citizens. The African Charter on Democracy further
proclaims a new dawn of democracy rooted in the rule of law and gives
further impetus to Africa’s commitment to the principles of transparency and
accountability in government. It reaffirms the primacy of the rule of law
and calls on state parties to initiate appropriate measures, including
legislative, executive and administrative actions to bring State Parties’
national laws and regulations into conformity with the African Charter on
Democracy.

The IG has after fifteen months of the effective date of this
instrument neither signed nor ratified this landmark instrument.

ZLHR
calls for commemoration of the 2013 Africa Day in Zimbabwe with a purpose.
The importance of common values leading to recognition of this day is
greatly undermined and of no effect to the lives of ordinary citizens if the
IG continues to fail to contribute positively and proactively to further
peace and security. Common values enjoin the IG to acknowledge instruments
such as the African Charter on Democracy and respect and abide by
recommendations of institutions such as the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights that have been set up to advance these common African
values. Inaction by the IG to promote the common values, remains
unacceptable and a dereliction of duty to facilitate peace and security in
the country and broadly on the continent.

As Zimbabwe joins other
countries in celebrating the birth of a united African Continent focused on
the promotion of common values of dignity, peace, stability and prosperity
for its people, ZLHR calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to:

Ratify
the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance to show its
commitment towards the values encapsulated in the Charter

Domesticate the
African Charter on Democracy framework through initiation of appropriate
measures - including legislative, executive and administrative actions - to
bring the national laws and regulations into conformity with the African
Charter on Democracy

Take measures to implement recommendations of the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to facilitate the diaspora
vote

Reaffirm the primacy of principles of good governance, democracy and
the rule of law in society in conformity with the African Charter on
Democracy

ZLHR further calls upon the government to respect and adhere to
the provisions of the SADC Guidelines on Elections as the country prepares
to hold elections which the rest of the world is watching and to accept the
outcome of the polls held under a free and fair environment.

Journalists Still
Being Harassed As Elections Loom

The new Zimbabwean constitution that President Robert Mugabe
promulgated three days ago guarantees more democracy and freedom of
expression, on paper at least, and Reporters Without Borders hopes that it
will reduce the negative effect of the draconian laws currently in
effect.

As a result of Zimbabwe’s repressive legislation, criminal
charges are often brought against journalists just for doing their job. This
has been seen yet again in recent cases of arrests and
harassment.

The new constitution also opens the way for elections that
have been awaited for years. President Mugabe wants them held as soon as
possible and his party, Zanu-PF, thinks they could be held on 29 June. But
the power-sharing government’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai of the
opposition MDC, wants several essential reforms adopted first, including
media freedom reform.

“Aside from highlighting the disagreements and
obstacles that have existed at the highest level ever since the
power-sharing government’s formation four years ago, the conditions posed by
Tsvangirai draw attention to the urgent need for news providers to be
guaranteed the right to work freely and safely,” Reporters Without Borders
said.

“The new constitution is a step forward but no satisfactory,
transparent election is possible if journalists are prevented from working
properly. In both Harare and in the provinces, Zimbabwean journalists,
especially those who work for the privately-owned media, are the victims of
harassment campaigns while journalists with the state-owned media are
controlled by the government.”

On World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May,
Reporters Without Borders pointed out that Mugabe is still on its list of 39
“Predators of Freedom of Expression” and drew up an indictment accusing him
of suppressing freedom of expression, exercising strict control over the
state media, constantly harassing the print media and being the architect of
an extremely repressive media legislation. Read the
indictment.

Arrests and harassment

In one of the latest examples
of abusive arrests, Dumisani Muleya, the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent
weekly, Owen Gagare, one of his reporters, and the newspaper’s secretary
were arrested on 7 May for publishing “lies” in a front-page story by Gagare
in the 26 April issue.

All three were held for seven hours in a Harare
police station before being released. The two journalists were interrogated
about their sources for the story, which said Tsvangirai had met secretly
with senior military officers ahead of the coming elections.

The
police were meanwhile threatening another Zimbabwe Independent reporter,
Dingilizwe Ntuli, with a jail sentence for an article criticizing Harare’s
police chief.

The privately-owned newspaper NewsDay has also been the
target of police harassment. Ropafadzo Mapimhidze, a NewsDay reporter based
in Masvingo, 300 km south of Harare, was summoned and questioned by the
local police in February about one of her articles.

Daily News editor
Stanley Gama was summoned to Masvingo the following month and asked to
reveal his sources for an article about a resumption of terrorist activities
in the area. Gama is currently accused of libelling a Zanu-PF representative
in a report about the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl.

Often
threatened and interrogated and sometimes prosecuted, independent media
personnel are hounded by the national police, the security forces and the
Central Intelligence Organization, which follow orders from Mugabe and his
aides.

Judicial dangers and repressive legislation

The two
Zimbabwe Independent journalists have been formally charged by the police
with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the
state,” which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and the
possibility of a heavy fine.

The criminal defamation legislation
allows individuals to bring complaints against media and journalists before
the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), which monitors the media. Under the
2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the ZMC
can close media that act “imprudently.” This provision is above all used
when journalists cover cases of alleged corruption.

Information
minister Webster Shamu reiterated the government’s position on media freedom
and the protection of journalists at a news conference at Zanu-PF
headquarters on 10 May: “I want to repeat that this country came about
through the barrel of a gun. It cannot be taken by a pen, never.”

Push To Arrest Chinamasa

JUSTICE and Legal Affairs
Minister Patrick Chinamasa is under investigations over possible attempts to
defeat the course of justice, The Financial Gazette can exclusive
reveal.Ironically one of the sharpest legal minds in ZANU-PF, Chinamasa
landed himself in hot water after he requested a docket from police on two
party officials from his home province facing stock theft charges.Those
baying for his blood are alleging that the Justice Minister crossed the line
when he asked police officers investigating suspended Manicaland provincial
chairperson, Mike Madiro and his deputy, Dorothy Mabika to hand him a docket
pertaining to the case.Police and the Attorney General’s Office have since
been roped in to look into the allegations and bring him to book if need
be.Recently, Chinamasa confirmed perusing the docket for Madiro and Mabika,
who are currently on trial on stock theft charges. The State is alleging
that the suspended ZANU-PF officials stole beasts that were meant for
President Robert Mugabe’s birthday celebrations. Both are denying the
allegations.Sources said Chinamasa’s woes should be seen in the broader
context of the infighting that has erupted in Manicaland ahead of the
elections to be held later this year.The infighting is linked to
President Mugabe’s succession with factions loyal to some of the top
contenders for the high-pressure job using every trick in the book to smear
their perceived competitors.Contacted for comment yesterday, the party’s
secretary for information and publicity, Rugare Gumbo, referred all
questions to the Justice Minister. He said: “That might be the case, but the
best person to ask is Chinamasa himself. Why don’t you ask him he is
around?”But Chinamasa declined to comment on the matter, saying: “Aiwa
izvozvo handina chokutaura. Bvunza vari kuzvironga (I don’t have anything to
say. Ask those who are plotting that).”The Justice Minister’s campaign
to halt the prosecution of Madiro and Mabika has also set him on a
collision course with the party’s secretary for administration, Didymus
Mutasa, who wants the suspended ZANU-PF officials to face the full wrath of
the law.His antics have also not gone down well with Mutasa’s allies.Up
until now, Mutasa was seen as Chinamasa’s godfather and protector to the
extent that the Presidential Affairs Minister got physical at one point in
order to rescue his perceived protégée. In 2004, when Move-ment for
Democratic Change treasurer Roy Bennett floored Chinamasa in Parliament
Mutasa rushed to the scene and kicked Bennett in a bid to rescue the Justice
Minister.In the past, Chinamasa has also carried Mutasa’s
cross.Seven years ago, Chinamasa was arraigned before the courts for
attempting to influence witnesses to withdraw their evidence against Mutasa
who was being accused of political violence following attacks on one of the
war veterans’ leaders, James Kaunye. Kaunye had sought to stand against
Mutasa in the party’s primary elections ahead of the 2005 general
elections.ZANU-PF insiders said only Chinamasa and Mutasa could explain why
they have fallen out.But that there is now bad blood between them is
quite evident.For instance, Mutasa is said to be backing former Manicaland
provincial chairperson Basil Nyabadza to stand in Makoni Central and yet he
had previously backed the Justice Minister for the same seat.Chinamasa
has previously blamed his woes on politics.During his prosecution in the
Kaunye case, he argued that he was being made to answer
“politically-motivated charges”. Prosecutors however, rejected his attempts
to cloud the charges against him by introducing political dimensions,
although in the end he was acquitted.Chinamasa’s tenure at the Justice
Ministry has been punctuated by abuse of office allegations that saw him in
2004 being accused by former Administrative Court Judge President Michael
Majuru of having attempted to put him under pressure to rule against The
Daily News’ bid to be re-registered, allegations the minister
dismissed.Between 2000 and 2002, some Supreme Court judges also accused
Chinamasa of pressurising them to quit in a bid to rid the bench of elements
perceived to be hostile to ZANU-PF’s agenda.The Justice Minister has
also been caught up in succession fights.Last year, he was under the eye of
a storm amid suspicions that he had sought to settle the party’s succession
issue during the constitution making process by agreeing to a running mate
clause that was viciously opposed until it was repudiated from the charter
signed into law yesterday by President Mugabe.The whittling down of
presidential powers in his presence did not help matters as ZANU-PF
hardliners objected that their leader was being reduced to a clerk.

ZITF
Exposes Byo’s De-Industrialisation

BULAWAYO — The de-industrialisation process, which Bulawayo has
been grappling with since the turn of the century, is apparently far from
over as company downsizing, relocation and closures continue in a city that
was once the industrial hub of Zimbabwe.This has been made more glaring by
the just ended 54th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF)
in which companies in the city accounted for only 35 percent of local
exhibitors while Harare dominated at 57 percent.Giant companies which
have collapsed are in the textile industry and used to employ thousands of
people. They include Merlin, David Whitehead Limited, Textile Mills, Belmore
Manufacturers, Ascot Clothing and many others. Research has shown that
nearly 100 firms have closed shop in Bulawayo since 2000.Former big names
like National Blankets, Security Mills, (both under judicial management),
Cold Storage Company, National Railways of Zimbabwe, United Refin-eries,
Dunlop-Zimbabwe and Archer Clothing have since down-sized leaving thousands
jobless.It now appears efforts to rescue Bulawayo companies by the inclusive
government through the US$40 million Distressed Industries and Marginalised
Areas Fund (DIMAF) have failed to yield results as some companies have
nonetheless either folded or been placed under judicial management while
awaiting funding.The government has, since its launch in October 2011,
continued to extend every year DIMAF, described as a ‘drop in the ocean’ by
industrialists.However, Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe told the
International Business Conference in Bulawayo recently that she still
believes Bulawayo could be restored to its former glory.“But I still
believe the industry can be revived if we change our mindset and copy how
other countries like India and China have done it. Let’s unite for a common
cause,” she said.Bulawayo mayor, Thaba Moyo, has said due to
deindustrialisation, local employment had suffered severely, affecting the
livelihoods of people.“Even those who have means have tended to import
labour from outside the city. Regrettably, what they might not realise and
appreciate is that this behavior is self-defeating as their enterprises are
also affected,” he said.Moyo castigated banks for their reluctance in
funding Bulawayo companies and the continued referring of loan applications
in the city to Harare.“It does not make economic sense to bank locally and
yet be referred to other centres for assistance,” he said.Some of the
Bulawayo companies that participated at the trade fair included National
Blankets, Cold Storage Company, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Datlabs,
Treger Products and United Refineries which returned this year after
disappearing for a few of years.Zimbabwe National Cha-mber of Commerce
(ZNCC) Bulawayo chapter chairperson, Ntombenhle Moyo, said participation at
the business jamboree by companies in the city remained low owing to
deindustrialisation.“If it was not for deindustrialisation, more companies
would have participated at this trade fair. We are praying and hoping that
next year things will change and more of them will be seen participating
here at the trade fair,” she told The Financial Gazette’s Companies &
Markets.She, however, said the quality of products coming mainly from the
Small to Medium Enterprises, which she argued were the ones now holding
Bulawayo from a total collapse, had significantly improved this year
compared to 2012.“They are producing quality products and given the capital,
given the assistance that they need, they would improve. What needs to be
done is for the authorities to hear our pleas as we have always been crying
all along for money to be injected to recapitalie these industries that are
folding,” said Moyo.Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Matabeleland
chapter president, Cletus Moyo, said challenges faced by Bulawayo companies
were dampening their spirits in showcasing their products at the annual
exhibition.He explained that some companies were in a Catch 22 situation
regarding selling on credit or strictly on a cash basis.Moyo further
said some companies were battling with the payment of salaries which were at
times being staggered.Participation at ZITF for such companies, he said, was
therefore not a priority.Overall, manufacturing sector companies
countrywide made up 14 percent of total exhibitors at the fair, a testimony
to the fact that manufacturing levels in the country, though picking up,
remain relatively low. For a few Bulawayo manufacturing companies such as
Treger Products, manufacturing of basic products that every household
requires has enabled them to remain in business while many continue to
crumble.The steel and plastic products manufacturer, which has five
manufacturing divisions — Kango Products, Monarch Steel, Treger Plastics,
Zimbabwe Grain Bags and Treger Harare — is one of the largest producers of
window frames, door frames, wheel barrows, geysers and kitchen
furniture.“I will say for Treger, we were lucky because the products which
we manufacture are basic products which every household requires. Maybe
that’s why we have managed to survive,” group sales and marketing director,
Sithokozile Ndlovu, told C&M.She said Treger was able to venture
into the Southern African Development Community region.ZNCC Bulawayo
chapter executive committee member, Tshidzanani Malaba, said he expected
companies still ailing to fail completely after this year‘s elections unless
a deliberate policy was adopted to ensure their survival.“It will be easier
(after polls) for foreign investors and start-up entrepreneurs to thrive
than an existing company that is reeling under heavy debts to take off the
ground,” said Malaba.“It will be wise to direct all foreign investors who
want to invest in a particular sector or industry to first seek audience
with existing companies for partnership failure of which they can be allowed
a new start up unless it’s a completely new technology which is not
represented by any local player,” he said.Malaba said there was a need
for Bulawayo to refocus its self as a technology city and leave heavy
industries to where ever they have decided to relocate to.

Tsvangirai
Party Supporters Fight for Election Positions

MUTARE — Fists were nearly exchanged at the offices of
the Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai on Friday during the verification process for the party’s primary
elections to choose parliamentary and council candidates for this year’s
polls.

Aspiring candidates and their supporters almost exchanged blows as
the situation deteriorated.

MDC-T supporters argued and tussled at
the party’s Manicaland provincial party offices as they disagreed with
officials on who will be allowed to participate in the primary elections to
select candidates in the province’s 26 constituencies.

Some
complained names had been imposed onto the list in a deliberate attempt to
favour some candidates while other names were allegedly omitted.

Barbara
Mukahanana said she was disappointed by the goings-on in her party. She
blamed factions in the party for Friday’s chaos at the verification
process.

Innocent Gonese represents Mutare Central in parliament and
has been under attack by supporters here who think he has not done enough to
cater for their needs. He refused to speak with Studio 7..

The MDC-T
chief whip, who has represented the area since 2000, is being challenged by
former Mutare councilors Aarai Arutura and knowledge Nyamhoka in the primary
elections.

The party’s Manicaland provincial spokesperson and Makoni
South Member of Parliament Pishai Muchauraya said his party is in control of
the situation, adding that “the small challenges experienced” Friday would
be addressed.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday heard arguments in a
case in which the director of the Centre for Elections and Democracy in
Southern Africa, Jealous Mawarire, is seeking an order compelling President
Robert Mugabe to set June 29 as the date for the country’s next crucial
elections as the life of the unity government comes to an
end.

Mawarire’s lawyer, Joseph Mandizha, told the full Supreme Court
bench that elections should be held by June 29 because the life of the
current parliament expires on the same day.

Mandizha argued that
holding elections after that date would create a power vacuum in the
country.

Attorney Terence Hussein, who appeared in court on behalf of
President Mugabe, concurred with Mandizha.

But Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s lawyer, Lewis Uriri, said although it is not disputed that the
current parliamentary session ends June 29, there won’t be any power vacuum
in the country if elections are not held by June 29.

Meanwhile,
the Supreme Court on Friday heard arguments in a case in which the director
of the Centre for Elections and Democracy in Southern Africa, Jealous
Mawarire, is seeking an order compelling President Robert Mugabe to set June
29 as the date for the country’s next crucial elections as the life of the
unity government comes to an end.

Mawarire’s lawyer, Joseph Mandizha,
told the full Supreme Court bench that elections should be held by June 29
because the life of the current parliament expires on the same
day.

Mandizha argued that holding elections after that date would create
a power vacuum in the country.

Attorney Terence Hussein, who appeared
in court on behalf of President Mugabe, concurred with Mandizha.

But
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s lawyer, Lewis Uriri, said although it is
not disputed that the current parliamentary session ends June 29, there
won’t be any power vacuum in the country if elections are not held by June
29.

Zanu-PF
Says Aspiring Candidates Must Only Campaign for Mugabe Until Primary
Election Rules Are Finalized

WASHINGTON — The Zanu-PF Politiburo has instructed all
aspiring party candidates to campaign only for President Robert Mugabe for
now until the party finalizes its rules governing primary
elections.

ZANU PF’s decision-making body, the Politburo, is locked in a
renewed bid to quell resurgent factionalism and infighting fires burning at
provinces ahead of primary polls and crucial general elections expected
later this year.

The Politiburo met in Harare at the parrty
Headquarters Wednesday until late into the night but still failed to
finalize the contentious issue of primary elections.

Zanu-PF party sources, who asked not to be
named, told VOA that temperatures are rising as some aspiring candidates are
already on the campaign trail, despite instructions to wait for the party to
agree on primary election rules.

The early campaigns are said to be
bringing serious friction within the party. Incumbent senators, members of
parliament and councillors are said to be bitter with aspiring candidates
who are said to be already campaigning and causing confusion.

Our
sources also say that if Mr Mugabe calls for early elections it could be a
disaster for Zanu-PF, as candidates will have very little time to
campaign.

Party spokesman Rugare Gumbo told VOA the party hopes to
deal with the matter when it meets again next week.

Political analyst
Earnest Mudzengi, director of the media centre in Harare, says party
infighting is to blame for the lack of agreement.

Zanu PF is divided into
two major factions, one said to be led by Vice-President Joice Mujuru and
the other by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. Political analysts say as
the 89 year old Mugabe gets increasingly old and frail, factionalism is
worsening.

Deportations
Of Zimbos Escalate

BULAWAYO — The governments of Botswana and South Africa have in
recent months escalated the deportation of Zimbabwean immigrants living in
their countries without proper documentation.Figures released by the
Home Affairs Ministry indicate that Pretoria deported 23 150 Zimbabweans
between January 1 and April 30 this year while Gaborone banished 2 151
Zimbabweans.During the comparative period last year, South Africa only
deported 13 600 Zimbabweans.Political observers point to the
near-doubling of the deportation figures as indicative of South Africa’s
failure to halt the influx of illegal immigrants into Africa’s largest
economy.Christopher Ngwenya, the Matabeleland South police spokesperson,
revealed that deportations from South Africa through the Beitbridge Border
Post averaged between 200 and 300 people per day, while Botswana was
deporting about 100 people daily through the Plumtree Border Post.“Those
deported would have either breached immigration laws such as overstaying
resulting in the cancellation of their permits or crossing borders without
valid travel documents,” he said.Scores of Zimbabwean nationals left the
country at the height of the economic crisis in search for greener
pastures.South Africa alone is home to an estimated three million
Zimbabweans.The South Africa Home Affairs Department was forced to introduce
a stringent visa requirement for Zimbabwean travellers in 2008 and to compel
all foreign nationals in that country to regularise their stay.Only 275
000 Zimbabweans applied to regularise their stay in the last documentation
exercise.In March, the Home Affairs Department ruled out the possibility of
extending the exercise.Charles Mangongera, a political analyst, said
Zimbabweans have taken advantage of the visa free regime to flout
immigration laws, leaving the South African government in a fix as it could
not re-introduce the visa requirements without stirring fresh tensions with
Zimbabwe.“The visa requirement has become anachronistic…given the very close
economic, social and political ties that have now developed between the two
countries,” said Mangongera.With elections which ZANU-PF wants held at
the end of next month, speculation is gaining ground that the deportations
from South Africa are set to increase.“Certainly those numbers will
increase and this has been the case in previous elections,” said
Mangongera.The influx of deportees from South Africa and Botswana is likely
to worry ZANU-PF, which is suspicious of Zimbabweans who are based in the
Diaspora.Zimbabwe’s electoral laws restrict postal voting to citizens who
are on government business and disallows Diaspora-based nationals from
participating in elections. As a result, a large number of Zimbabweans
living abroad will not be able to vote in the forthcoming polls.“The
South African government has not necessarily pronounced a policy to send
Zimbabweans back home to vote, but the police and immigration authorities
seem to have had covert operations to deport more Zimbabweans during
election periods,” observed Mangongera.

Robert
Mugabe claims he could trust Margaret Thatcher but Tony Blair was dishonest
in new documentary

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has spoken about
how he 'could trust' the late Margaret Thatcher but did not believe anything
Tony Blair said during their respective periods as Prime Minister of
Britain.

By Peta Thornycroft, Johannesburg12:27AM BST 25 May
2013

Mugabe, 89, revealed his contrasting take on the former British
leaders during a soft documentary interview aimed in part at trying to clean
up his blood-stained legacy and promote a more positive image of Mugabe the
man ahead of the Zimbabwe elections.

In choreographed scenes around
the Mugabe family dinner table and home, he also talks about the pleasure
his family have given him but insists that Zimbabweans still need him so he
cannot retire from politics to spend more time with them. The programme will
be shown on the series 'People of the South' on state TV.

Mr Mugabe
sanctioned the intimate filming in Harare late last year with Dali Tambo,
the only son of the late African national Congress President Oliver
Tambo.

"My people still need me," Mr Mugabe says."And when people
still need you to lead them it's not time, sir, it doesn't matter how old
you are, to say goodbye."

Shortly after filming ended Mr Tambo, who
spent his exile years in London, told The Daily Telegraph he was unconcerned
if the sympathetic depiction of a man despised by many made observers angry
with him.

"I interviewed Rhodesian leader Ian Smith in Cape Town a
previous series," Mr Tambo said. "This is not Hardtalk. This isn't a
political programme. We all have lunch together."

Mr Mugabe talked
briefly to Mr Tambo, and his white-South African wife Rachel, about the
controversial land grab which began in 2000 and collapsed the Zimbabwe
economy when thousands of productive white farmers were often violently
evicted and the international reaction to his policy.

"They (the UK) will
praise you only if you are doing things that please them. (Nelson) Mandela
has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in
some cases at the expense of them ...

That's being too saintly, too good,
too much of a saint."

Mr Mugabe who cuddled and kissed his second wife
Grace for the South African cameras said he was able to deal with Mrs
Thatcher when she was in power, unlike those that have followed.

"Mrs
Thatcher, you could trust her," he says in the film. "But of course what
happened later was a different story with the Labour party and Blair ... who
you could never trust. You couldn't compare them to Thatcher and the others
... Who can ever believe what Mr Blair says? Here we call him Bliar."

Mr
Mugabe also reveals he cheated on his sick wife Sally with Grace because, he
said, he wanted a child before his mother, Bona died.

Mrs Sally Mugabe's
only child with Mr Mugabe died in Ghana when he was in detention in
Rhodesia. After the war when the couple returned to Rhodesia she was too old
to bear children and she was also ill with nephrites. So her husband started
a relationship with pretty Grace, then a typist in the state house typing
pool.

His mother then saw her grand daughter, named Bona after her,
shortly before she died at 93.

Sally Mugabe had to endure the birth
of Bona and her husband's second child, Robert, before she herself
died.

She told some Zanu PF women members to whom she was close that she
was deeply unhappy about her husband's affair but admitted to them that
there was nothing she could do as she was dying and was childless.

Mr
Mugabe kept his first two children secret until the media broke the story
when Bona went to school at the Dominican Convent in Harare. Mr Mugabe
claims in the interview with Mr Tambo he had told his ailing wife about his
affair with Grace and that she seemed satisfied when he told her that he
still loved her.

‘My
people still need me’: Mugabe

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has told a South African
broadcaster that age will not force him out of office, insisting he believes
Zimbabweans still need him.

Voters will however, have their say in
elections to replace the coaltion government which are expected later this
year.

But speaking in an interview to be broadcast on SABC early next
month Mugabe, who turned 89 this year, would not contemplate retirement,
saying he was no quitter.

He said: “My people still need me and when
people still need you to lead them it's not time, sir, it doesn't matter how
old you are, to say goodbye.

“They will say you are deserting us and I am
not a deserter, never have been, never have thought of deserting people. We
fight to the finish: that's it. I still have it in me here."

The
veteran leader is set to lead his Zanu PF party in fresh elections to choose
a substantive government, ending an uneasy coalition with long-term rival
Morgan Tsvangirai which came into office in 2009.

He has led the country
without check since independence in 1980 but suffered a scare in 2008 when
he lost the first round of the Presidential ballot to Tsvangirai.

The
MDC-T leader however, pulled out of the run-off accusing Mugabe of
brutalising his supporters.

The regional SADC grouping later
intervened to facilitate the formation of a unity government, which Mugabe
described as a "humiliation".Meanwhile, the Zanu PF leader told interviewer
Dally Tambo – son of South Africa liberation hero Oliver Tambo – that he
believes former colonial ruler, Britain, was still keen to regain control of
the country.

"There is a fight to fight. The British are calling for
regime change, that I must go. That call must not come from the British,” he
said, banging his fist on an armrest.

"The sanctions are still on us
and what man is there who, when his own house is being attacked, will run
away and leave the family and the children still under attack? It's a
coward!”

His refusal to step aside for a younger leader or even anoint a
successor has frustrated rivals and lieutenants alike, with Zanu PF said to
be riven by deep divisions over his succession.

Mugabe blamed the
divisions for forcing on him the ignomny of sharing power with Tsvangirai
after the inconclusive 2008 elections.

He told a Zanu PF central
committee meeting after the vote: "If only we had not blundered in the
election, we would not be facing all this humiliation.

"We have gone
further to say 'if only we had not chosen to be divided'. If only, if only,
if only. Yes, we learned it the hard way."

Who's
in charge of this asylum?

After at least fifteen years of voting in elections with a
highly flawed voters roll stuffed with dead people and countless missing
names, Zimbabwe’s latest voter registration exercise shuddered to an end.
The month long voter registration process had turned out to be an absolutely
chaotic exercise which started with sensational news at the beginning of the
process and finished with shocking news before the ink was dry at the
end.

Just after the registration process began the MDC’s Douglas
Mwonzora told the press that in some constituencies the voters roll had
swollen by 10,000 names in 48 hours saying it was impossible that 153
voters were being registered every second. Mwonzora described how the
co-minister of Home Affairs had checked the voters roll for her constituency
on Monday and found 5,196 people registered but two days later when she
checked again, the number had more than tripled and there were 17,068 names
on the roll.

A short while later the Registrar General, who has been in
that position for thirty three years and has surely got lots and lots of
practice at this by now, announced that the names of one million dead people
had been removed from the voters roll. Mudede said that as of the 1st May
2013 there were 5,677,881 registered voters on the roll. Instead of calming
people’s fears about the accuracy of the voters role, the Registrar’s
statement about a million dead voters having been removed, set the national
eyebrows soaring towards the heavens. How many of those dead blokes voted in
the constitutional referendum a couple of months ago we wondered? And is
that why we all saw no queues at referendum polling stations while
authorities described it as the biggest turnout in thirty years? Who’s in
charge of this asylum?

As the voter registration exercise continued,
there were widespread reports of massive queues, of people being turned
away, of rural village chiefs and headmen denying people proof of residence
and of voters finding their names either not on the roll or mis-spelt and
not matching the spelling of their names as shown on their ID’s thereby
making them invalid come voting day.

Ten days before the end of the voter
registration process the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission said that
since the start of the exercise 29,940 new voters had been registered on the
national voters roll. It wasn’t clear if that included the super-fast ten
thousand people who had been registered at the rate of 153 people per second
in one constituency in the first two days of the exercise.

As the
national voice of outrage reached fever pitch, and just a few days before
the end of voter registration the Electoral Commission officials went
walk-about. ZEC Chairperson, Judge Rita Makarau, spoke to church leaders and
said: “We accept that there are gaps between what we are saying and what is
happening on the ground.”

And then, one day after the closure of the
voter registration exercise, Deputy President Arthur Mutambara told
Parliament that when Vice-President Joice Mujuru went to check the voters
roll last week, she was shocked to discover that only nine people from her
home village in Mt Darwin were on the roll.

All this aside there’s
still the massive problem of hundreds of thousands of born and resident
Zimbabweans with the dreaded “Alien” status on their ID’s and countless
others who’ve been forced to take out citizenship of other countries in
order to survive the last thirteen years of mayhem in Zimbabwe. All of them
have been struck off the voters roll and we wonder how many even tried to
renew their seized citizenship status. With such obvious mayhem and
incompetence why would they?

As the dust settled over the whole mess
and it was obvious that the April/May voter registration had been a complete
waste of time, money and resources we heard the exercise was going to be
repeated. Justice Makarau was quoted in the Herald saying: "We were drawing
lessons in order to structure the next exercise." Justice Makarau said US$21
million was needed for the new voter registration exercise which would take
place very soon , now that President Mugabe had signed the new
Constitution.

No one said anything about just exactly who in Zimbabwe was
left with any trust or confidence at all in the whole voter registration
process, this one just ended or the one still to come. After the disgraceful
debacle of the past month, the calls to allow people to vote with their ID
cards only continues to grow ever louder. Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy

Soil Atlas of Africa

At the African Union and European Union Commission
College meeting in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia (April 25-26, 2013) the Atlas was
introduced by EU Commissioner Hedegaard (Climate Action) on behalf of the
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

A pdf of the atlasis
available to downloadfrom the
Soil Action Web Site from Monday, April 29th. See the link below....

Physical
copiesof the book will be
available through the EU Publications Office towards the end of May 2013.

(29/4/2013): Download the PDF version of Soil Atlas of
Africa. You are invited to download all the 3 parts as the total size of the
Atlas is more than 500 MB.Physical
copiesof the book will be
availabe through the EU Publications Office towards the end of May
2013.

The first ever
SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA uses striking maps, informative texts and stunning
photographs to answer and explain these and other questions. Leading soil
scientists from Europe and Africa have collaborated to produce this unique
document. Using state-of-the-art computer mapping techniques, the Soil Atlas of
Africa shows the changing nature of soil across the continent. It explains the
origin and functions of soil, describes the different soil types that can be
found in Africa and their relevance to both local and global issues. The atlas
also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps being taken to
protect soil resources. The Soil Atlas of Africa is more than just a normal
atlas. It presents a new and comprehensive interpretation of an often neglected
natural resource. The Soil Atlas of Africa is an essential reference to a
non-renewable resource that is fundamental for life on this
planet.

The Soil Atlas of
Africa – highlighting a forgotten resource?

In most people's
mind, soil would not figure highly in a list of the natural resources of Africa.
However, healthy and fertile soils are the cornerstones of food security, key
environmental services, social cohesion and the economies of most African
countries. Unfortunately, soil in Africa tends only to reach public awareness
when it fails – often with catastrophic consequences as seen by the famine
episodes of the Sahel in the 1980s and more recently in Niger and the Horn of
Africa.

Soil is the
foundation to many of the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to providing
the medium for food, fodder and fuel wood production (around 98% of the calories
consumed in Africa are derived from the soil), soil controls the recycling of
nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and other nutrients. Soil reduces the risk of
floods and protects underground water supplies. Soil organic matter can store
more than ten times its weight of water while the soils of Africa store about
200 Gt of organic carbon – about 2.5 times the amount contained in
plants.

While Africa has
some of the most fertile land on the planet, the soils over much of the
continent are fragile, often lacking in essential nutrients and organic matter.
Aridity and desertification affects around half the continent while more than
half of the remaining land is characterised by old, highly weathered, acidic
soils with high levels of iron and aluminium oxides (hence the characteristics
colour of many tropical soils) that require careful management if used for
agriculture. Soils under tropical rainforests are not naturally fertile but
depend instead on the high and constant supply of organic matter from natural
vegetation and its rapid decomposition in a hot and humid climate. Breaking this
cycle (i.e. through deforestation) quickly reduces the productivity of the soil
and leaves the land vulnerable to degradation.

With a population
of over 1 billion people and growing, conflicting or competing demands (e.g. the
cultivation of cash crops for export, the production of biofuel, conservation
for wildlife reserves, carbon sequestration, mineral extraction, grazing, urban
migration and expansion, etc.) are placing intense and increasing pressures on
the remaining land. Soil degradation has multiple consequences. Perhaps the most
pressing it that contributes directly to a decline in per capita food
production, especially in small holdings throughout Africa. The harvesting of
crops from cultivated soils breaks the nutrient cycle, which then requires
additional inputs. In many parts of Africa, soils are losing nutrients at a very
high rate, much greater than the levels of fertiliser inputs. As a result of
rural poverty, farmers are unable to apply sufficient nutrients due to the high
costs of inorganic fertilisers or from a lack of farm machinery (Africa has the
lowest use of industrial fertilisers in the world). Traditional practices, such
as long fallow periods that improve nutrient budgets and restore soil fertility,
are difficult to implement due to the increased pressures on land and changes in
land tenure that restrict traditional nomadic lifestyles.

However, the
importance of soil and the multitude of environmental services that depend on
soil properties are not widely understood by society at large. A part of the
problem is that with an increasingly urban society, many people have lost
contact with the processes that produce food. Most people expect to find goods
on the shelves of supermarkets and have limited or even no appreciation of the
role played by soil. Concepts such as nutrient cycling and organic matter
management, that are critical to processes such as soil fertility, are a mystery
to most. To compound matters, there is very little dialogue between the soil
science community and the general public. The majority of soil-related print
material is geared towards university level or scientific journals - normally
out of the reach of the general public. This results in a lack of easily
understandable material to help interested stakeholders appreciate the value of
soil and to help them preserve this precious resource.

As a consequence,
soil as a topic tends not to feature in the minds of the public or politicians.
However, some soil scientists and policy makers are becoming increasingly aware
of a greater need to inform and educate the general public, policy makers, land
managers and other scientists of the importance and global significance of soil.
This is particularly true of the soils in Africa where the dramatic consequences
of the failure to use soil sustainably have led to desertification, famine,
civil unrest, economic collapse and human suffering, often on astonishingly
large scales.

It is in these
contexts that the European Commission's Joint Research Centre initiated a
project, in collaboration with the African Union and the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, to bring together soil experts from Europe and Africa to produce
the first ever SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA. The goal was to produce a publication,
aimed at the general public, decision makers, politicians, teachers and even
scientists in other disciplines, that raises awareness of the significance of
soil to human existence in Africa.

The atlas explains
in a simple and clear manner the reasons for the varying patterns of soil across
Africa as well as the need to conserve and manage this increasingly threatened
natural resource through sustainable use. At its heart is a series of annotated
maps that show, for the very first time, the diversity of soil characteristics
across the African continent in a manner that is comprehensible to the
layperson. The Atlas calls for a four-pronged approach to the soils of
Africa:

an improved
knowledge base to facilitate effective policy development and decision-making
relating to the most appropriate use of terrestrial resources through a
harmonised assessment of the state of soils and associated threats to identify
areas at risk of erosion, decline in nutrients and organic matter, salinisation,
acidification, compaction or landslides. At present, there is a marked lack of
current, consistent and comparable data on soil resources and trends across
Africa. There is little coherence between countries which makes the quantitative
evaluation of changes in soil state and functions almost impossible. The lack of
data also hampers efforts to develop indicators to measure the
situation.

the
maintenance and development of soil education components at all levels of
education should also be a priority. Without a trained scientific base, the
collection of relevant soil information will be impossible.

the
establishment of measures to assess the impacts of current policies and land use
practices on soil quality in areas such as agriculture, waste, urban development
or mining, and to ensure the sustainable use of soil and its functions, together
with action programmes to deal with the main issues of local
concern

support to
facilitate the networking of soil scientists and land use experts from all parts
of Africa. Such a move would help to improve information exchange and develop a
more comprehensive knowledge base to underpin sustainable soil use policy
development and practices

The Soil Atlas of
Africa supports the Global Soil Partnership of FAO and the final declaration of
the Rio+20 meeting towards reversing and reducing global soil
degradation.